Omaha volunteers at the annual Million Meal March were challenged Saturday to package 1 million meals in 12 hours.

The event generates meals for starving children, some living halfway around the world and some living in Omaha.

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"They are given to people in needy situations; 300,000 of the meals will be staying here in the Omaha area," said Kelly Jo Yaksich, co-director of Kids Against Hunger.

Organizers said the rest of the packages are destined for hungry children in third-world countries.

Erica Stone is co-founder of The Raining Season, an orphanage in Sierra Leone that cares for 93 children.

"We began by adopting from Sierra Leone. My daughter is 12 years old, and we adopted her in 2004," Stone said. "The meals last a very long time -- several hundred thousand meals will last us six months."

Thanks to Kids Against Hunger's Million Meal March, Stone said she won't have to worry about feeding the children.

"We're giving them everything that they need, and it doesn't break our budget," Stone said.

Volunteers are packing up rice and soy blend fortified with vitamins and vegetables. Inside each meal package is six servings, at only 25 cents per serving, organizers said.

"What differentiates us from every other feeding program in the world is our food actually reverses malnourishment in a person's body," Yaksich said.

At least 2,500 local volunteers said they're happy to support the program.